Distributed file systems store data across multiple computing systems. An example distributed file system may include a master node controlling multiple data nodes. For example, a master node may divide a file into multiple portions (e.g., subsets, data blocks, contiguous file portions, etc.) and store the portions on the multiple data nodes. In addition, the master node may cause the same portion to be stored on two different data nodes. Storing the portions in multiple locations provides redundancy so the distributed file system can continue to function as long as at least one data node storing each portion is available.
Typically, the multiple computing systems of the distributed file system are connected via a communication network. For example, the communications network allows the master node to control the data nodes and allows data (e.g., portions of files) to be transferred amongst the data nodes. In addition, some or all of the computing systems of the distributed file system may be connected to a network of other devices such as, for example, the Internet.
One example distributed file system implementation is the Google File System developed by Google™.